A trip to Chengdu - 成都

As Pauli keeps having more and more trips around China mainland, we felt we could combine his next mission to Chengdu with a nice family side trip. His colleague You Yi (pronounced Yo-Jee) joined us for a portion of the trip and was an invaluable source of information, and a great "travel agent" making sure to avoid us all sorts of trouble.

Chendu is the capital of Sichuan province. This province was hit by a terrible earthquake in May 2008, killing more than 80,000 people. Some of Paul's projects in this region are related to the rebuilding of the devastated villages in the Shichuan province.

The city is quite important historically, and for various regions. It was the birth place of the first widely used paper money in the world, as early as 960 A.D. During the Chinese Civil War, it was also the last stronghold of the Kuomintang General Chiang Kai-Shek against the Communist Mao Tse-Tung. Today the city is one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China, with a broad industrial base of manufacturing, aluminum smelting and chemicals. Maybe that explains partially the fact that the city has one of the lowest sunshine rate of China, even less per year than London. Here is a view from atop our hotel...

With 11 million people, the density of the city is 888 inhabitants per square kilometers (as opposed to 11,050 in Beijing and 13,400 in Shanghai) should not feel so dense, however it ranks in third row for his traffic jams. Chendu-ren (the inhabitants of Chengdu) are known for their lifestyle of leisure, Chengdu counting more bars and tea houses than Shanghai, even though is has not even half its inhabitants.

We spent time walking around some beautiful parks, all lined up with tea houses. With its warm and humid weather, Chengdu is really green with bamboo in every park, creating a beautiful atmosphere. The tatch cottage house of the poet Da fo is surrounded by a beautiful garden.



Also very enjoyable, a walk in a restored area of the city called JinLi, where narrow streets and wooden constructions recreate what was probably the best of a medieval Chengdu.

Chengdu's food is also famous; hot pots, noodles and other dishes are all known for their very spicy taste. Here is a picture of a Make-Your-Own-Soup street restaurant, where you choose your vegetables from the plastic bins. Here specially requested "non spicy soups" were still a bit too much for Noam's taste buds. The following picture is an image of the oils and spices from a hot pot (some original version of what in Quebec we call Chinese Fondue). Can you see how many peppers are floating around?!


Another important attraction in Chengdu is the Panda Breeding Centre. We found there a bunch of lazy and happy giant panda, feeding or sleeping leisurely in front of us. Noam preferred the red pandas, more like a breed of furry red raccoons.